Hi, this little blog has not officially been launched, but around the facebook world, amongst friends, the url is circulating and folks are asking how they can post or donate or get involved. That is cool. I know that so many of us care for our buddy Joey, still so full of light. And still so full of Chap spirit. He talks about going to the football games all the time. His identity for me was formed at Westlake and when I think of him I am still thinking of the Joey trouble maker, Joey who had the blue Audi before any of the rest of us could drive, Joey who was the definition of an excitable boy.

Joey and I started hanging out when his family came to Eanes during my 7th grade year at Hill Country Middle School. He had his own room downstairs from his parents, and a pool table that saw many a late night.

My best years of Texas Football were during 7th and 8th grade as a Hill Country Cougar. When were we ever so close again?

High School ripped a lot of us apart for different reasons. I escaped a painful home situation and attended Exeter in NH and when I returned to Westlake as a Junior, everything was different. The buddies that were so close in HCMS were now sort of competing for something. Competing for popularity, affection from our peers, attention as a bad boy (that was me) or just plain surviving. But I don’t think I ever had the same warmth returning to Eanes that we had back in middle school. But then again, that was middle school. A lot changes after middle school. A lot!

A funny thing happens though, as we move further from that time together. We romaticize our experiences. Westlake becomes something of a marker for all of us. Heck, I live in Lost Creek, about a mile and half away, so what does that say?

Our 10 year reunion was an odd experience. It was a mix of us trying to establish our identities outside of who we were at Westlake. For me, I was in a failing marraige and still trying to show up at the reunion as proud. UG!

But something happened for all of us between year 10 and year 20. [I going to generalize here, but the connectivity that Westlake friends are continuing to express via Facebook and other internet connections shows that others are feeling a similar pull.] At the first event of the reunion at the Broken Spoke, I remember being so excited to see everyone. I no longer cared if I was a bit rounder in the middle, or if my carreer was successful or not.

I confess to still trying to hold up my RockStar dreams by giving away my Buzzie album. I still want all of you to envision me as a rockstar. But now it’s ACDC Track Pack rockstardom. I do still have my band website, and I do still write songs. But I no longer have ambitions to hit the road in a van for a “tour of Texas and Oklahoma.” And I guess I’d prefer my kids not aspire to rockstardom either.

But this isn’t about me. This is about us. The feeling I got at our 20 year reunion and the mini reunion a few summers later at Westlake Beach, was that we WANTED TO HANG OUT TOGETHER.

And it is in that spirit that I have set up this site to support one of the best hanger-outers I know, Joey!

So, here’s what you can do now, if you want to get involved.

1. You can join this site. I’ll post the join link on the righthand side.
2. Once joined you can write a post about Westlake, or your memories of Westlake, HCMS, Joey, pep rally, whatever.
3. You can email me at john.mcelhenney (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send you info about what Joey needs and his contact information if you want it.
4. You can keep you eye on this site, either with RSS or Email, and I will let you know when I have the PayPal donation option set up.
5. Finally, I am in the process of getting Joey back on the internet so he can join us here. He has no idea this site exists. But don’t you think he’ll be amazed when he does learn about it?

I have heard from enough of you that I know the spirit I am recalling from our 20th reunion is still alive and well in many of us. Let this site be a launching pad for more connectivity between us. And we don’t have to wait until the 30th to get back together as a class. When the weather gets nice, I’d like to see us gather at Rollingwood Pool or Lost Creek Pool or Westlake Beach with our families. Because in the end, the last event of the 20th reunion, at Suwanna (was Coleman)’s house, was just being with each other. Hanging out in the pool sharing our families and current present with our memories of the past we shared.

Cheers fellow 1981 graduates of Westlake High.

@jmacofearth
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A wonderful thing social media, and wonderful things can be influenced by our collective interest, influence and conversations.

My friend Joey Uriegas from Austin, Texas has Huntington’s Disease. It’s not pretty, but it’s not too terrible. His Mom had it. And lots of her family have it down in the valley. But the only one I know is Joey. We were running buddies from 6th – 8th grade. We graduated from Westlake High School in 1981.

In all the years we ran into each other over the following 26 years, Joey was always the first one to offer a hug, to encourage contact and to shine about all the great things in his life. He did know he was going to be feeling the effects of the Huntingtons at some point, “Cause I’ve got this Huntington’s, you know.” He would say it, and I never knew what it meant. It seemed dramatic. I do remember his Mom was kinda stuck back in the dark bedroom. She was loving and joyous when she was about, but mostly she was quiet and invisible.

So, two weeks ago I went to see my friend Joey. He lives about a mile and a half from my house. Just on the other side of Westlake High from me.

Of course I had no idea what to expect. And I have not done my research into what the disease actually means or does. What I know is that Joey is still very aware of what is happening around him. As we sat in his house, the large flatpanel TV was blasting Two Smoking Barrels and he kept asking me if I had seen it. “It’s a great movie. Have you seen this one. It’s a Guy Ritchey. Do you know Guy Ritchey? He’s like Tarrantino. Kinda like Tarrantino.”

Nothing odd about that line of questioning or even the pauseless pace. But it came around about 4 times while we were sitting there.

I gave Joey my iPod with 60 gigs of music and some noise-cancelling headphones. I dialed in ACDC and he was OFF! “This is great! How do you turn it up? This is awesome!”

And when I got home I was sort of tired and also challenged trying to think of how I could help Joey. He needed money to fix his dishwasher. And he needed to see the dentist. And as another mutual friend said, “His family is not made of money. It’s just a bad situation. And Joey knows it too.”

Thus here is the site My Friend Joey. And at the moment it is only an idea. But with a place to grow the idea I can begin building on it. And I hope if you know Joey you will contact him via this site. And if you don’t know Joey, but know about Huntington’s or just want to talk to Joey that you will also feel encouraged to reach out via email or chat.

And that’s the extent of it for now. If you’ve got a spare dishwasher let me know immediately.

Thanks,

John McElhenney @jmacofearth
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